Council facing £13.7m overspend, report says

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is projected to overspend by £13.7m in 2025/26

A council is facing an overspend of almost £14m due to continued pressure on children's services.

A report on Stoke-on-Trent City Council's finances for the first quarter of 2025/26 showed the authority was projected to overspend £13.7m by the end of the financial year.

According to the document, the children and family directorate accounted for £9.5m of the sum, with £7.9m of that relating to children's care placements.

It came as the number of children in care in Stoke-on-Trent rose to 1,085 between April and June, having previously fallen every quarter since 2023/24.

The report, which was due to be discussed by the authority's cabinet on Tuesday, said a further £2.5m of the total projected overspend came from adult social care and all-age commissioning.

The city council received £16.8m of exceptional financial support from the government for 2025/26 – an emergency bailout loan which will have to be paid back.

Council leaders were aiming to improve the financial position by reducing the number of children in care and bringing down the amount spent on private sector placements.

The report said that while progress was being made, challenges with "market sufficiency and capacity" around placements for children in care meant the predicted financial improvements were "taking longer to materialise than originally forecast".

Among the measures suggested were "rigorous" scrutiny of all expenditure and maximising external funding opportunities, as well as reviewing staffing structures.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.